


Swinging Alone

by LadyM_17



Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alone, M/M, Tyrus - Freeform, swinging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26896480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyM_17/pseuds/LadyM_17
Summary: Buffy moved away, Andi was at SAVA. His two best friends were gone. Marty and Jonah said hi sometimes, but Marty had his sports crowd, and Jonah… well he was the Jonah Beck: why would he want to hang out with someone like Cyrus?And TJ… well he had Kira.“What’re you doing at the swings right now?”Well isn’t it obvious?
Relationships: Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948384
Comments: 8
Kudos: 78
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Swinging Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh Tyrus, my heart is melting, it has melted, it is just a pile of warm lovely goop.
> 
> Prompt: Day 8: Where Did Everybody Go? [Abandoned/Isolation]
> 
> Content Warnings: Loneliness, Bullying (minor)  
> I think that's it? If you think there's something else please let me know and take care of yourselves!

Before high school, Cyrus used to try to take meticulous notes, foiled by his friends fooling around. Now, in high school, he was free from all distractions, free to take notes how he wanted, but he never did.

Buffy had moved away months ago, they still texted sometimes but she’d settled into her new school’s girls’ basketball team, something Jefferson still didn't have, and made plenty of friends there, meaning she had less time to be Cyrus’s friend.

Andi had been accepted into SAVA and quickly incorporated into Walker and Libby’s group of friends, so she too also had less time for Cyrus, even if they still met up every weekend with Jonah.

Cyrus knew Jonah and Marty would still hang out during the school day, and he knew if he asked they would welcome his presence too. But they had their own group of friends outside of Cyrus, friends who were popular and played sports, and Cyrus couldn’t intrude on that.

Then there was TJ, who, despite no longer hanging out with Reed and Lester, had Kira and his friends in sports too. They traded nods in the halls, and memes through texts, but it had been some time since they’d talked in person, let alone at school.

Cyrus knew that this was normal, people drifted away as they entered new schools, new environments, but he couldn’t help feeling left behind, all of his other friends had moved on to new friends, and here Cyrus was, alone.

He didn’t always feel lonely, keeping busy helped, but lunch was the worst. What used to be joking around with Andi and Buffy in the cafeteria had turned into sitting in the corner, until one day he decided to just not go. After a morning of feeling painfully lonely after exchanging a smile with Marty in math, before he went to go sit with some of his other friends, Cyrus was in no mood to sit in a corner pretending not to watch his friends move on.

So he went to where he always went when he wanted to forget: the swings.

Up and down he went, humming his swing song when he heard laughter. He turned around and then immediately ducked his head. TJ and Kira were heading this way, holding hands. Cyrus hoped they hadn’t seen him, but he was the only other person on the playground it would be a bit of a miracle if they hadn’t.

“Cyrus! What’re you doing here?” It was TJ. Cyrus looked around but Kira was nowhere to be found.

“Where’d Kira go?”

TJ frowned.

_TJ hadn’t really been paying attention to where Kira was leading him, too busy to try and find a way to get her to release his hand. She kept doing stuff like that, wrapping her arms around him, holding his hand, and while TJ kept trying to let her down as nicely as he could, she really didn’t seem to be getting the message._

_Then all of a sudden she burst out laughing and TJ realized they were at the park. “What’s so funny?”_

_“Is that Cyrus? On the swings?” She laughed. “Like a baby!”_

_TJ wrenched his hand out of hers. “What is wrong with you!”_

_Kira rolled her eyes. “Oh don’t be so protective TJ. It’s not like you’re friends with him anymore.”_

Had Cyrus and him stopped being friends without him noticing… maybe, shit. _“I wasn’t aware you were the one to chose my friends.”_

_“Of course I am, I am your girlfriend after all.”_

_Well, that was news to TJ. “No, you’re not.”_

_“Are you breaking up with me?”_

_“We were never dating so… sure.”_

_“Over Cyrus?”_

_“Not over… what are you talking about? We were never dating!”_

_“Fine!”_

_“_ She… I don’t know, can I sit?”

Cyrus nodded and TJ took a seat on the swing next to him.

They swing in silence for a few moments. “It’s been a while since we’ve done this,” TJ said.

Cyrus shrugged.

“So what’re you doing here?” TJ asked.

“Swinging.”

Apparently, Kira might’ve been more perceptive of his relationships than TJ. And Cyrus obviously didn’t want to talk, but something was bothering Cyrus, TJ knew him well enough to know that.

“Part of your stuff?” TJ asked.

“I guess so, it’s new.”

“Oof, new stuff.” TJ shook his head. “The worse, you want a distraction.”

“I wouldn’t mind it.”

For a fleeting moment, TJ imagined getting up and kissing Cyrus. It would’ve been a good distraction, but it wasn’t the right time; TJ knew that, not after months of barely any communication. But this was the closest they’d been in months and every part of his crush was making itself known at full force. Instead, he got up and pushed Cyrus’s swing, higher and higher, until Cyrus was shrieking with laughter.

“Underdog!” he ducked beneath Cyrus’s swing and caught the boy as he stumbled off the swings.

“That was… exhilarating.”

“Less terrifying than the first time?”

“Definitely.”

TJ wondered if Cyrus had ever wanted to kiss him, in the exhilaration of the moment, maybe he was about to ask, but then Cyrus’s phone went off.

“Oh! We should head back to school.”

TJ nodded. “Alright.” He slung an arm over Cyrus’s shoulders and felt the boy tense. “Sorry.” He started to withdraw.

“Oh, no! It’s fine, you just surprised me. I don’t mind it, really, I um…” Cyrus went a bit red. “like it?”

TJ grinned. “Well, now you’re never getting out!” And he slung his arm over Cyrus again. They walked back to school like that. TJ could feel Cyrus’s shoulders rise with every breath he took and Cyrus could feel TJ’s heart beating. It was intimate and familiar and the start of rebuilding something that had been lost in the wave of changes.

When they returned to school, TJ walked Cyrus to his first class and, in Cyrus’s mind, basically deposited him next to Marty.

In fact, TJ had noticed that Lester was in this class, he wouldn’t do anything to Cyrus of course, but TJ would feel better knowing Marty was nearby Cyrus, and he had no reason to think that this was not the usual arrangement.

Marty, for his part, was overjoyed at having Cyrus back. He and Jonah both understood that they weren’t as close to Cyrus as they were Andi and Buffy and that Cyrus needed time after the two had left, but if this was Cyrus showing he was ready Marty was more than ready to return to their friendship.

He texted Jonah and both Jonah and TJ showed up after the class period, and Cyrus looked properly overwhelmed at the amount of friendship that had caught alight during the day.He barely understood that they had made plans to meet at The Spoon after school until TJ had his arm around him and was walking him to the restaurant.

“You doing okay, Underdog?” TJ asked as they approached the restaurant.

Cyrus grinned, perhaps he was a bit overwhelmed but it was the good kind of overwhelmed. The excited kind, where so much good was happening his nerves were dancing. “Overwhelmed,” he said, he knew TJ wouldn’t judge him, and if Cyrus decided to tell Marty or Jonah, neither would they. “But in the best way.”

TJ nodded. “Okay, just let me know if you need to take a breather, okay?”

Cyrus nodded. “I’m ready! This is going to be great!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!


End file.
